Identification of genes involved in nervous system function may provide markers for various steps in nervous system development and/or repair following disease or injury. Some of these steps may also be important in diseases affecting the nervous system, including but not limited to Charcot-Marie-Tooth syndrome, multiple sclerosis (MS) and Guillain-Barre syndrome, which are characterized by demyelination of axons in the peripheral or central nervous system. The frequencies of these diseases range from 1/1000 (U.S.) for multiple sclerosis to 1.5/100,000 for Guillain-Barre syndrome. These diseases are devastating for those affected by them, often resulting in the loss of the use of limbs. For example, Guillain-Barre syndrome generally requires hospitalization to provide respiratory and cardiac support during an episode. In terms of economic costs, MS carries a substantial economic burden. A cost of illness (COI) study conducted by Bourdette et al. retrospectively examined costs to the US Veterans affairs for the treatment of 165 patients with MS over a 3-year period (Bourdette D. N. et al., Arch Phys Med Rehabil 74:26-31 (1993)). Drug costs were not included in the study. The average cost to the VA associated with these patients was estimated at $35,000 per year.
Gene products of genes involved in nervous system function may also localize in tissues not associated with the nervous system and also may provide markers for various steps in the development of tissues not associated with the nervous system and/or repair of the same proximal to disease or injury.
What is needed are markers for various tissue processes (including but not limited to the nervous system) which can be used in the development of diagnostic and therapeutic agents for a variety of disorders including, but not limited to, pathologies of the nervous system.